Gaz Gold Pro gone soft.....

[thatsprettyshady]

Taken the car out for the first time in a couple of weeks today and doing my usual drive of a route I know well I felt the rear end of the car (T350) bottoming out quite alarmingly, enough to scrape the rear diffuser which it never used to do. The car is also VERY unsettled over mid corner bumps and generally doesn't feel as tied down as it used to.

I had the Gaz golds fitted by topcats around 6 months/3000 miles ago and when they were set up they were just perfect, 8 clicks on the rear and 10 on the front. I have had a play about tonight and went as far as 12 rear 11 front but while the ride got firmer (small bumps a lot more noticeable), the bottoming out/unsettled feeling remains.

Any ideas?

[DS1962]

Assuming the springs are intact it sounds like the seals may be leaking. Seals are known to stick to the damper rod if the car isn't used for a while and then split when it is moved to put back on the road.
Had a similar issue with my Rear Gaz Golds a month or so back. Started off as a slight oil smear on the damper rod which gave the handling characteristics you describe. Mines had been on the car for 3 years or so and covered 20,000miles. Sent them off to Gaz for a rebuild and all is well again. Yours should still be under warranty though.
HTH
Davie

[chris watton]

That's not good - are they really this badly made? It seems the original TVR shocks can last a decade or more - but aftermarket shocks last 6 months!

[natben]

I've had my Gaz Golds for 4 years with any leaks.

[thatsprettyshady]

DS1962 said:

Assuming the springs are intact it sounds like the seals may be leaking. Seals are known to stick to the damper rod if the car isn't used for a while and then split when it is moved to put back on the road.
Had a similar issue with my Rear Gaz Golds a month or so back. Started off as a slight oil smear on the damper rod which gave the handling characteristics you describe. Mines had been on the car for 3 years or so and covered 20,000miles. Sent them off to Gaz for a rebuild and all is well again. Yours should still be under warranty though.
HTH
Davie

Thanks, I'll have a poke about underneath later and see if I can see anything obvious

[Sevenman]

I would suspect that you are getting tyre rub on the wheel arch rather than diffuser scraping on the road. That is what happens with my Tamora. I suspected diffuser rub the first few times it happened but then realised the tyre and wheel arch meet well before that.

As well as looking for leaks, it would be worth checking your ride heights and that the springs haven't settled a bit over those 6 months causing you to run lower, rub tyres, and use the bump stops a lot which will make the handling unsettled.

There is relatively little damper travel before the damper is on the bump stops which ups the effective spring rate rapidly and could make it feel unsettled. If the car is lower than ideal then you would be using the bump stops more.

I don't think the rear suspension damper travel before bump stop looks very good with the Gaz Gold Pros, but I haven't looked at other setups from below to see how they compare. Because of the inclined spring / damper and the limited wheel travel there just isn't a lot of piston travel that can be used.

Some info on my car is here when I started looking at its setup - http://www.sevenman.co.uk/?p=444 I didn't end up using Center Gravity for work in the end, going to Neil Garner instead - http://www.sevenman.co.uk/?p=463.

[Ab Shocks]

I'd be seeing if there was any evidence of leaking before I sent them back to the factory, I would also check to make sure the back hadn't settled unduly.
With regard to rear travel being a concern on Gaz Gold Pro I would suggest that Nitron,Ohlins and Bilstein are the same open and shut length as GGP so don't understand how this could be an issue.

[thatsprettyshady]

Hi just a quick update to this, emailed Warren at Topcats and he's suggested it's possibly a ride height issue so I'm going to bring the car down to have it checked.

Many thanks for the replies

Edited by thatsprettyshady on Friday 25th October 13:00

[Jhonno]

Shirley if it was a ride height issue, it would have been like it from day 1..? Or maybe 500miles in once it had all settled?! Not between laying it upf for a few weeks..